Conclusion

This article highlights the challenges and difficulties involved in finding an efficient way to valorize lignin. Despite numerous efforts in this direction, lignin remains the only component of lignocellulosic biomass for which virtually no industrial process has been developed to make the most of this high-potential resource. The conversion of cellulose and hemicelluloses into simple sugars by hydrolysis enables the production of fuel and platform molecules for natural chemistry. These techniques are currently applied in high-capacity plants.

Lignin's high complexity and heterogeneous nature currently limit its commercial use to low value-added applications, such as dispersing agents in cements. The depolymerization of lignin to obtain aromatic molecules of natural origin capable of replacing their petrosourced equivalents seems to be the most promising way of...